FORT WILLIAM FIRST NATION, ON — The chief of the Fort William First Nation says the new federal budget contains some positive signs for his community and for reconciliation with Canada, but much more remains to be done, especially for younger adults and children.
Peter Collins plans to bring that up Friday with the Prime Minister when Justin Trudeau visits Thunder Bay.
In an interview Wednesday, Collins said one of the first things that stood out for him as he reviewed the budget was the commitment to invest $1.2 billion over three years to improve services for First Nations children.
"Particularly around Jordan's Principle [Jordan's Principle is named after a child from Manitoba who died in hospital at the age of five. It calls on the government of first contact to pay for services and seek reimbursement later so a child does not get caught up in bureaucratic red tape] and the funding that will be injected into that to help young kids and their families when they're struggling to get the health needs that they require," Collins said.
However, he said, he's still waiting to see help for disabled young people facing challenges getting into the job market.
"Where do they fit into that budget process? There's never a dollar identified, through the provincial mandate or through the federal mandate. The young people with disabilities want to be employed in our communities," Collins stated.
He'll raise the issue with Trudeau, noting that after a previous budget the Prime Minister told him funding for disabled youth to find employment was set aside, but when he checked he found no reference to such an allocation.
Saying that he has a child himself who could use that kind of assistance, Collins said it's an important issue for "young folk who are struggling" not just in his own community but in Thunder Bay.
He's also looking for more support for youth with addictions, and funds to build housing for young people living on low incomes, saying it's necessary to help members who want to return to live on the reserve.
"We need housing. We build a subdivision this year, and it's full next year. As our community grows, we need more."
The Chief expressed cautious optimism that a federal commitment to revitalize Indigenous languages will benefit Fort William.
"You've got 630 First Nations across Canada. If you talk about the $333 million [over five years] what's that break down per community? There's a shortfall there but there's still a lot of work that we can do to start to lay the foundations to get our language back in our community," he said.
Collins said he is satisfied "to a certain degree" with the process of reconciliation.
"We gave up a treaty that talks about resource-sharing agreements. And we're finally seeing some of that coming to reality. Yes, it's short, but we're happy to be starting on a path to reconciliation."
He said he's waiting to find out if the federal government might give Fort William additional money from the specific claims process.
"We were capped at $150 million on the boundary claim in particular...are they going to open that up for discussion in the future ?" Collins asked.
The government said it plans to forgive loans that were given to Indigenous groups to negotiate comprehensive claims and treaties.
"We had to borrow money to settle six claims. We had to borrow up to $6.1 million. We had to pay that back through the settlement agreement. If they are reaching back, hopefully we can get some of that money" to help build Fort William First Nation, Collins said.
